How do you know if you’ve met someone who’s born and raised in New York? They probably brought it up in the first sentence.

I often think if it’s silly to be proud of where you were born, lucky might be a better fit, but I promised I’ve never taken it for granted. I mention this because, without a doubt, growing up in downtown Manhattan has shaped me both personally and professionally. I think it’s safe to say that my curiosity for advertising was born out of the inner city environment and the constant onslaught of brands at every corner, and of course, the creativity in their approach.

It was my own need to create that drove me to design, that took me to Pratt, that turned the artsy kid into a critical thinker. My career started working on the Pepsico International portfolio of brands and most recently, subsequent Fortune 500 companies like Nestle, Heineken, Harley-Davidson, and L’Oreal.

Over the last 15 years my work has touched every gear of the marketing machine, and evolved with it. “Experiential” once meant events and conferences, today I see experiential strategy as a key pillar in understanding how brands participate in our lives. Whether it’s a mega event halfway around the world, or a 15sec Instagram ad, each experience plays out differently –but each plays its part.

In New York you learn quickly that change is fast and it’s inevitable, and often brutal. I mean, my childhood pizza place is now a fucking Target people. But learning those lessons early and embracing change drove my fascination with “what’s next,” and luckily, here we are today –creating brands for the future.

INQUIRIES // EMILFILIPNYC@GMAIL.COM